Such thrust bearing arrangements are used to absorb axial thrust forces applied by a rotating component mounted in a housing or the like or to transmit these forces to the housing. A typical field of application is a rotating, axially loaded shaft mounted in a shaft housing or the like. Here, the axial thrust force is typically transmitted by a radially extending shoulder formed on and rotating with the shaft via a thrust bearing on a stationary radial shoulder formed on the shaft housing.
In general, the roller bodies do not roll directly on the radial shoulders of the shaft or the shaft housing, but instead on race disks, which are allocated to the thrust bearing and which are composed of a material that is especially suitable for the bearing function, for example, a hardened material, so that the bearing function is guaranteed independent of the material of the shaft or the shaft housing. For a thrust bearing arrangement with two race disks, typically one race disk with an axially projecting collar surrounds the roller body cage with play on the outer periphery, while the other race disk with a collar directed in the opposite axial direction surrounds the roller body cage with play on the inner periphery, which does not need to be discussed in further detail here and can be understood, for example, from FIG. 4.
It is also known to provide at least one race disk of a thrust bearing arrangement with another collar or flange arrangement bent away from the roller body cage s-parallel to the bearing axis, in order to center, for example, a spacing washer allocated to the thrust bearing arrangement relative to the thrust bearing or the thrust bearing itself relative to the shaft or to the shaft housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,979 describes and shows, for example, in its FIG. 1, a thrust bearing arrangement, for which on the inner periphery of one race disk, a collar is formed, by means of which a spacing washer allocated to the thrust bearing is centered on the inside. The spacing washer in general and the collar for centering on the race disk are obviously produced through pressing or drawing a sheet-metal component, wherein the internal corner formed by the collar has rounded internal contours. So that the outer edge of the spacing washer facing these rounded inner contours remains free from the inner contours, this outer edge must also be rounded or beveled, which means additional processing expense for the spacing washer.
DE 36 43 584 A1 shows especially in its FIG. 1B a thrust bearing arrangement, in which, in turn, on the inner periphery of one race disk an axially directed collar is formed, by means of which the thrust bearing arrangement is centered internally relative to a fixed component B. As can be seen from this figure, both the internal corner of the collar of the race disk and also the peripheral edge of the component B facing this race disk are illustrated with sharp edges. In general, however, if the race disk is produced, for example, by a stamping or pressing process from a sheet-metal part, the internal edge of the race disk is rounded, so that in practice, the peripheral edge of the component B is also rounded or must be beveled, so that the race disk on one hand and the component B on the other hand each contact one another in a statically determined way with the provided contact surfaces.